Tip restarts the essay, beginning two years ago. Lucy told her she was abducted in the night and extraterrestrials put a mole on her neck. Tip reflects on Lucy’s history of unreliable decisions and claims. She lied and said she believed her. One day, Tip noticed that the mole had grown and was glowing. She urged Lucy to get it removed. Lucy was defensive and said it would work itself out; Tip insisted that Lucy’s problems seemed to work out because Tip secretly fixed them. When Tip couldn’t find anything online about moles growing, she thought maybe she was seeing things. As she returned to bed, she heard Lucy talking in her sleep, repeating single words in English and Italian.

Tip draws several pictures of her and Lucy’s daily life as a “montage” to show their actions in the days leading up to Christmas. She woke up on Christmas Eve night to see that Lucy collapsed while putting up presents. She was chanting and her mole glowed a “bright and steady” purple (49). Lucy walked through town in a trance as Tip followed, trying to wake her. An extraterrestrial ship landed in a cemetery, and one of its many legs carried her into the ship.

Tip went home in shock. The news began to play stories about the extraterrestrials, with people’s reactions ranging from happiness to panic. She addresses her future reader, asking if any large events have happened in the 100 years since her essay. She asks if they felt scared and sad at these events or paradoxically excited or proud. She wonders if she is alone in feeling that way.

Human armies tried to fight back. The Boov sent out clouds of “Bees,” bumblebee-sized objects that incapacitated human guns, computers, and satellites. The Boov declared their intent to colonize the planet as part of their “Grand Destiny.” The Bees have infiltrated the world leaders, and all humans should assimilate.

Humans fled from the cities, and Boov moved in. Sometimes, the Boov claimed houses people still live in. In the “Great Housecat Betrayal” (62), cats left their owners for the Boov, who they loved. Pig tried to get out, but she was an indoor cat.

After five months, Captain Smek broadcasted how inhospitable humans have been. He has made “Human Preserves” to relocate them to and signed treaties with random citizens of every country, rather than elected leaders. The United States was assigned Florida, and Tip elected to drive, leading to the events of Part 1.

J.Lo convinces Tip to give him a ride to Florida. Tip nicknames the car “Slushious,” due to a piece of metal from a “Slushious” machine J.Lo used to make repairs. They are almost out of gas, so J.Lo shows her how to trick Slushious’s computer into cloning and teleporting more gas. Tip wants him to teleport them to Florida, but he can’t because they are complex matter.

J.Lo says his job was to modify radio towers for Boov’s use, but he missed his ride. They start talking about old television shows, which the Boovs have been watching for dozens of years. J.Lo says he imagined Smekland would be different based on what he saw on television.

They sleep at a campground. When they visit the bathroom and Tip goes to the girls’ bathroom, J.Lo tells her about the seven Boov genders. As they drive the next day, Tip smells something fishy. When Pig bites J.Lo, she realizes cats like the Boov because they smell fishy.

Tip asks why J.Lo keeps saying “wicked,” one of Lucy’s slang words. He says he learned it from his “tutor.” When he calls her “Turtlebear,” Lucy’s special nickname for her, she stops Slushious and physically attacks him in anger, realizing her mom was his “tutor.” He says the mole was a storage device that held the words she spoke or thought, and she was called back to the ship to remove the mole. He says she is alive and will be waiting in Florida. Tip keeps driving them, angry for not hating J.Lo. She stops at a motel so they can shower. She contemplates leaving him behind but doesn’t.

They enter Florida, and a Boovcop immediately pulls them over. J.Lo hides under a blanket in panic. The Boovcop asks Tip why she is arriving three days late and why her car can float. When the Boovcop finds out a Boov fixed Slushious in Pennsylvania, she asks questions that indicate she is looking for J.Lo.

When they’re released, Tip asks J.Lo what trouble he is in but is distracted after she realizes she sees no humans. She worries the rocketpods were a trap to kill them all. J.Lo says they were probably relocated somewhere else. J.Lo admits he made a mistake while fixing antennas for his job and must now hide among humans.

Tip sees a sign written in Pig Latin, telling humans to meet at the Castle in Orlando’s “Happy Mouse Kingdom.” When J.Lo expresses confusion, Tip realizes Boov can’t read written human language. They park for the night in an underground lot near the Happy Mouse Kingdom. Tip tells J.Lo she wants to visit the Kingdom alone in memory of Lucy, who used to take her there often. J.Lo panics and wails at first but eventually complies when Tip promises she’ll come back.

Inside the park, Tip sees that the Boov vaporized much of the Snow Queen’s Castle. She encounters a lion that escaped from the park’s zoo and escapes on the top of the Haunted House. She descends on a ladder to the underground tunnels. She follows the door toward the Castle.

She encounters a group of boys. The oldest, whom she calls “Curly” for his curly hair, is hostile toward her. A more friendly boy, Christian, asks how she got there. She told them she drove rather than taking the rocketpods. The boys tell her that Boov discovered they like oranges, so they relocated everyone to Arizona instead of Florida.

Christian’s mom used to work at the park. Like Lucy, she was taken on Christmas after claiming to be abducted. Tip tells Christian their parents are still alive. The boys see a Boov Bee on her back. J.Lo runs up, saying their car was found, and they need to leave. Curly calls Tip a traitor, but Christian shows them a way out. J.Lo says he used the Bee to track her.

Near Slushious, Boov with vaporizers corners them. Tip yells to get the lion’s attention, giving them an escape window. Boov ships and Bees chase them. They manage to lose or destroy some, but suddenly, everything stops chasing them. Tip sees a huge, round purple spaceship that looks like a small moon.

J.Lo says they are the Gorg. The mistake he made with the antennae was to send a signal to the Gorg, alerting them to the presence of the planet. Tip yells at J.Lo, angry that the Boov stole earth and then invited their “Gorg friends.” J.Lo takes offense, calling the Gorg “monsters.” J.Lo admits he thinks the Boov should not have come. Captain Smek told them humans were animalistic and needed to be taught. He apologizes to Tip. She finally asks him to call her “Tip,” what her friends call her, rather than “Gratuity.”

In the narrative present, Tip finishes her essay by saying that when she thinks of Smekday, she thinks of the moment in Florida where she realized the Boov were “just people.” A letter from the Time Capsule Committee tells Tip her essay was selected for inclusion. They urge her to keep writing and say many people will be interested in the rest of her story.